Tesla has priced the high-quality HEPA filter and Bioweapon Defense Mode firmware upgrade kit for a 2020-2021 Model Y retrofit at just U$330. The HEPA filter retrofit is now available for Model Y owners in the US and Canada and can be ordered via the mobile app.
Actually, the price of the HEPA filter and bioweapon mode addition is only $135, while the rest is $125 in labor costs as well as smaller parts that have to be retrofitted as well. Tesla didn't launch the Model Y with a HEPA filter in 2020, and only started installing those after January 8, 2021, so those whose vehicles are built before that can now request a retrofit in the app.
Tesla's advanced HEPA filter is capable of cleaning the outside air of any pollen, viruses, spores of mold, bacteria, or pollution particles before it lets it into the cabin. Not only that, but the advanced HEPA filtration system allows Tesla to boast the so-called Bioweapon Defense Mode, the testing of which took place in a pollution bubble.
There, a Model X was irradiated with an extreme 1,000 µg/m3 concentration of polluting PM2.5 particles ten times above the EPA's safety limit. Not only did the HEPA system brought those levels down to nearly undetectable, but it also began scrubbing the air inside the bubble as well, so Tesla came up with the Bioweapon Defense Mode moniker for a filtration system that is also used in hospitals or on planes.
Initially, those massive HEPA filters were only available for the Model X and Model S, but later Tesla found space to install them in the Model Y, too, so it's just the owners of the smallish Model 3 who will be deprived of the bioweapon mode bragging rights now.
Early Model Y adopters can also rejoice in the fact that their HEPA filter retrofit costs way less than the 2015-2020 Model X HEPA filtration upgrade kit that is priced at the whopping US$425 with the Bioweapon Defense Mode firmware. Once 2020-2021 model year owners have gone ahead with the retrofit, Tesla also sells Model Y HEPA and carbon filter replacement kits for the Model Y at $90 apiece.
Get the XTechnor Tesla Model 3/Y HEPA filter 2-pack on Amazon
Source(s)
Sawyer Merritt (X)